Saturday, March 10, 2012

Como se dice ‘sardines’

Three planes, one five-hour bus ride, and 26-sleepless and showerless hours
later, our group finally arrived in Zacapa.

The entire time traveling yesterday I was so ants-in-my-pants excited that
I couldn't sleep. After all the traveling was done, I had been awake for
26-straight hours -- a personal best.

Everyone who traveled in our group was exhausted, but by the time we got
off the plane, got through what I think was customs (holy luggage) and loaded
onto the minibus, everyone was ridiculously energetic.

Guatemala City was hot, humid and smelled like diesel. Mixed in with 20
college students who smelled like the inside of an airplane --it was not a good
time.

The minibus, which in U.S. would have met maximum capacity at maybe 12
people, instead had about 20 college students who all needed deodorant.

When we loaded onto the bus someone said, “Como se dice ‘sardines’?”

Then some else pointed out we actually had more space on the bus than we
did on any of the planes, which was true.

At first, everyone was shrieky with excitement of being in Guatemala, so
for about 20 minute everyone was shouting out Spanish words they read on signs:

“Alto!”

“Edificio!”

“Escuela!”

And they also shouted out some not-so-Spanish words they read on signs:

“Pizza hut!”

“Wendy’s!”

“McDonalds!”

The roads – like in most Latin American countries – are just short of what
I would describe as complete anarchy, and within 20 minutes of driving through
Guatemala City, there was a car accident right in front of our bus.

A red pickup truck filled with giant bags of trash piled higher than the
top of the car, had pulled out in front of a father driving his daughter to
school. There was also a man sitting in the back of the red pickup on top of
the bags of trash who seemed rather unphased by the whole accident. He shrugged,
then leapt down from the trash bags and walked to the sidewalk. The father, on
the other hand, was not so pleased.

After that incident, everyone would peer anxiously out the window at the
oncoming traffic every time our driver would change lanes.

About an hour into our drive, we stopped at a gas station/7-11 type store
for a pee break and to get food. I bought potato chips and seltzer water then
realized it was breakfast time, however, my delirium from lack of sleep
prevented me from caring much.

This Guatemalan 7-11 had a security guard at it. He was wearing a
bullet-proof vest and was holding a double barrel shotgun. I made a mental note
not to steal anything.

A few very sweaty and cramped hours later, we (finally) arrived at the
hotel. Our bags, however, did not. They were in the other truck that was
waiting to pick up a second group arriving in Guatemala a few hours later.
Also, our rooms also weren’t ready.

So we spent the next few hours a bit miserable, hot and rather smelly.